Manchester City's late-goal glut puts Pep Guardiola on track to surpass Fergie's United
The Premier League's gold standard when it comes to late goals and drama has always been Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, but Pep Guardiola's extraordinary Manchester City side could challenge that this season.
With 14 wins and a draw from their first 15 games, suggestions are already being made that this City side are up there with the best teams in Premier League history, and only the most optimistic fans of other teams believe there is any chance of anyone hunting the league leaders down.
City have threatened at a wobble in recent weeks, with late goals required to beat Huddersfield, Southampton and most recently West Ham in the league, as well as Feyenoord in the Champions League.
But even though they so nearly drew all four games, the determination they have shown to grind out wins on each occasion suggests title-winning form.
City have already scored 11 goals in the final 15 minutes of league games this season - more than Swansea and Crystal Palace have managed in total - with those goals earning nine points, without which City would be second in the table behind rivals United.
They are scoring at such an astonishing rate that they could break all kinds of records this season. And after their latest win Guardiola likened City's never-say-die attitude to that of United under Ferguson.
“I heard about the Fergie time,” he said. “I was not here in that period but, of course, you have to have that. At the end what we have shown in the last games is we never give up. If we can take something about the Fergie time, it is welcome, a pleasure.”
Goals after 75 mins by Premier League champions
And if City continue to score late on at their current rate they will end up with 28 goals in the final 15 minutes of matches - more than any Ferguson team managed in a single season, even when the Premier League had 22 teams. 28 goals would also set a new Premier League record, beating the 27 Arsenal scored in 2007/08.
The strength in depth in Guardiola's squad means there is every chance City will keep on running opponents ragged and keep on scoring late goals.
They are also on course to finish the season rather better than the third place Arsenal managed 10 years ago.
